The ATF isn't likely to be on any of our Christmas Card lists anytime soon. A taxpayer-funded organization that appears to be in lockstep with every anti-gun group out there is never going to be.
But, the tide has shifted in the federal government. The most anti-gun administration in history is gone and now, there's a new sheriff in town who isn't going to play that game. Now, a group of senators are hoping the ATF realizes this.
They want the ATF to rescind Biden-era gun rules.
Thirty Republican Senators have signed a letter urging the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to rescind regulatory gun controls implemented during the Biden administration.
The Senators posited President Donald Trump’s February 7 executive order as the impetus for the letter. Trump used the order “to assess any ongoing infringements” of the right to keep and bear arms.
The letter from the senators, revealed Thursday, says in part:
Under former President Joe Biden, ATF adopted numerous policies and rules that infringed upon Americans’ Second Amendment protections. President Trump’s Executive Order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to review and develop a plan of action regarding President Biden’s unlawful firearms regulations. We ask that you work with the Attorney General to quickly identify and rescind these policies.
In particular, they want the ATF to rescind the "engaged in the business" rule that would basically expand background checks, the pistol brace rule, and the rules surrounding so-called ghost gun kits, among others.
They also singled out the "zero tolerance" rule for FFLs, which keeps treating minor paperwork errors that are going to happen from time to time the same as selling machine guns out of the back door with no paperwork at all.
The question now becomes whether the ATF will actually do anything.
My guess is that they won't.
First, they have an interim director who may not want to stick his neck out on anything like that. Especially since he's already tried to ignore the president in a far more direct manner. I just don't see that happening.
But it will provide some impetus for whoever Trump taps to be the new ATF director (Please be Brandon Herrera. That would be freaking hilarious) to do just that.
I could also prompt Trump or Attorney General Pam Bondi to make this a directive almost immediately. Then again, Trump has already issued the executive order, so that's likely already in the works.
The truth of the matter is that the ATF overstepped. It overstepped significantly. All of those rules were a bridge too far, but with all of them together, it just solidified the opposition to yet another anti-gun Democrat who had gone on record favoring two different firearm bans.
The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, and the ATF doesn't seem that interested in doing anything other than infringing. It should be noted that criminals aren't having any trouble getting guns despite all the new rules supposedly designed to do just that. That's because they don't follow the law as a general thing, so what's one more criminal charge?
Plus, most of them don't think they'll get caught anyway.
All that's happened in law-abiding citizens are having to deal with a lot of BS they shouldn't have to deal with.
I hope that Bondi and whoever gets tapped to helm the agency steps in and cleans house. The ATF could be very useful in focusing on bigger problems than whether or not some gun dealer accidentally transposed a couple of digits. Unfortunately, they'd rather knock on the door of lawful gun buyers and inspect their purchases or other such nonsense.
And they wonder why no one comes up to chat with them at SHOT Show.
